From a Hacker's Perspective: How to Breach a Point-of-Sale System

Pivot Your Attack

Pivot your attack within the corporate network.

From the initial point of compromise via the broad-based attack, the hacker will attempt to pivot within the corporate network, performing reconnaissance on the network to identify and execute on the machines and systems it can access.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, over 500 data breaches have been reported in the United States this year, showing an increase of 27.5 percent over the same period last year.

At the same time, electronic payments have started to outnumber cash transactions, and hackers have taken notice – with an increased number of point-of-sale (POS) system breaches making the headlines. Recent POS hacks, like those on Home Depot and Target, are likely due, in part, to the systems not being properly protected from potential vulnerabilities, which allows for an easy way in.

In this slideshow, Russ Spitler, vice president of product management at AlienVault, discusses the step-by-step analysis from the perspective of a hacker and what he or she would have to do to breach a POS system.

AlienVault is a leading provider of unified security management and crowd-sourced threat intelligence. Its products are designed and priced to ensure that mid-market organizations can effectively defend themselves against today's advanced threats.